About the Kent State Truth Tribunal

Kent State remains a seminal day in American history but the events that transpired on May 4, 1970 have never been thoroughly examined. Eight of the Ohio National Guardsmen who opened fire on protesters were indicted by a Grand Jury but the case was later dismissed. The families of those killed received $15,000 in compensation, a Statement of Regret and little information about what took place that day. The Ohio National Guard has never publicized the findings of its investigation of command responsibility for the shootings. And importantly, there has never been a public inquiry to hear, record and preserve the stories of those directly impacted by Kent State.

Forty years after the Kent State massacre, Laurel Krause and her mother Doris still suffer the scars of losing their beloved sister and daughter Allison Krause. Other participants, family members and witnesses continue to grapple with the aftermath of the shootings. The Krause family founded the Kent State Truth Tribunal in order to reveal the truth and establish a clear and correct historical record from the collective voices of Kent State.

The personal narratives of original 1970 Kent State witnesses and participants were broadcast live over the first four days of May 2010 on MichaelMoore.com and are now available for all to watch through the first live archive ever assembled for a truth-seeking initiative. Once completed, the New York University Tamiment Library will house a Kent State video archive for the public to view.

Michael Moore continues to support the Kent State Truth Tribunal and has generously livecast each Truth Tribunal proceeding at his website, www.MichaelMoore.com.

Award-winning filmmaker Emily Kunstler, daughter of civil rights attorney William Kunstler, has been the video archivist and co-founder at the Kent State Truth Tribunal. Her intelligent, compassionate and evocative interviewing style produced close to 100 extraordinary interviews that form the KSTT archive. William Schaap, radical lawyer and creator of the Institute for Media Analysis Inc, is supporting the Kent State Truth Tribunal as fiscal sponsor with 501(c)(3) status.

We hope the Kent State Truth Tribunal will help to heal those involved, establish cause and effect, and shed light on command responsibility for the Kent State shootings on May 4, 1970.

A key testimony of the New York City KSTT was evidence examiner Stuart Allen's expert analysis of the Kent State Tape was initially brought to light by the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Beyond the verified 'Order to Shoot', Mr. Allen isolated an altercation with four gunshots 70 seconds before the barrage of national guard gunfire. In light of this new evidence, we urgently encourage General Eric Holder to examine Mr. Allen's analysis of the Kent State Tape and open a Department of Justice inquiry into the Kent State killings.

In addition, British Prime Minister David Cameron's June 15, 2010 apology for the Bloody Sunday killings fuels our efforts to seek official acknowledgment for the Kent State shootings in the United States. We have not set out in pursuit of punitive justice, but rather the restorative justice that comes from collective sharing and healing.

The Truth Tribunal honors those whose lives have been directly affected by the killings and also marks the importance of Kent State as an influential chapter in the history of protest, democracy, civil rights and public security in the United States.